Crude oil futures prices october 2 2012

Crude oil futures prices october 2 2012 : Crude oil futures swung between small gains and losses during U.S. morning trade on Tuesday, as investors continued to eye developments in Spain amid expectations the debt-strapped country will soon request a full scale sovereign bailout.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in November traded at USD92.43 a barrel during U.S. morning trade, easing down 0.05%.

The November contract was stuck in a tight trading range of USD92.05 a barrel, the daily low and a session high of USD92.92 a barrel.

New York-traded oil prices rose to USD93.33 a barrel on Monday, the highest level since September 21 after data showed that U.S. manufacturing activity expanded in September for the first time in four months.

But prices came under mild selling pressure after Reuters reported that Spain may be preparing to request a bailout as early as next weekend, however Germany is urging Madrid to wait.

Earlier Tuesday, Spanish media outlets reported that Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy told members of his political party that he will not request external financial assistance this weekend.

A bailout would allow the European Central Bank to step in and buy Spanish sovereign debt, which would result in reduced borrowing costs for the debt-strapped nation.

Meanwhile, investors were also expecting ratings agency Moody’s to announce the results of a ratings review on Spain.

Moody’s said in August its review on Spain’s Baa3 rating would continue through the end of September. A move below Baa3 would drop Spain’s debt into junk.

Oil traders were now looking ahead to fresh weekly information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products to gauge the strength of oil demand in the world’s largest oil consumer.

The American Petroleum Institute will release its inventories report later in the day, while Wednesday’s government report could show crude stockpiles rose by 1.45 million barrels last week.

The U.S. is the world’s biggest oil consuming country, responsible for almost 22% of global oil demand.

Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for November delivery eased up 0.1% to trade at USD112.25 a barrel, with the spread between the Brent and crude contracts standing at USD19.82 a barrel.

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